Skateboarders, Bikers Will Have Place In Town To Call Their Own

NEWINGTON — Town council meetings don't typically attract middle-school students, but a handful of them paid a visit to Tuesday night's session -- just to make sure a certain project was moving ahead.

That project is a park that will welcome skateboarders, in-line skaters and bikers with attractions such as ramps, rails and half-pipes.

Parks and recreation officials presented the town council Tuesday with preliminary plans for the skate park, to be operated by the town. Plans call for a 100-by-100-foot facility to be installed on town-owned property currently used as a parking lot at the Clem Lemire Recreational Complex on Willard Avenue.

After researching hundreds of other skate facilities across the country, park officials said they favor an all-concrete facility that will be enclosed in some way, but will not have a fence with a lock or be supervised. Officials said they don't anticipate charging user fees.

The skate park would likely be a low-maintenance facility, with staff periodically checking for cracks on the property or picking up trash from the grounds.

``It's great to have something like this [skate park] come in,'' council member Richard Carbray said.

The project does not require further council action. Park officials hope to have the skate park finished by next fall and will nail down the facility's design in the next few months, Fravel said.

Meanwhile, several middle-school students, who had attended a meeting in June about the project, said Tuesday they wished the park were finished now. They said they're getting tired of using parking lots.

``They kick us out whenever they see us,'' said skateboarder Dan Nafis, 12. ``We always get yelled at.''